


Torn

by xtremeroswellian



Series: Tainted Love [2]
Category: Smallville
Genre: Angst, Apologies, F/M, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:01:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23883439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xtremeroswellian/pseuds/xtremeroswellian
Summary: Clark reluctantly returns to Smallville, and tries to set things right with the people he hurt.
Relationships: Clark Kent & Chloe Sullivan, Clark Kent & Jonathan Kent & Martha Kent, Clark Kent & Lana Lang, Clark Kent & Pete Ross
Series: Tainted Love [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1721302
Kudos: 6





	1. Chapter 1

_My inspiration has run dry  
That’s what’s going on  
Nothing’s right, I’m torn  
I’m all out of faith  
This is how I feel  
I’m cold and I’m ashamed  
Bound and broken on the floor  
You’re a little late  
I’m already torn  
Torn_

Clark sat stock-still in the passenger seat of Chloe’s VW bug, staring ahead at his house. Beside him in the driver’s seat, the girl he once thought of as one of his best friends sat stiffly, not looking at him. She hadn’t spoken to him the entire way from Metropolis to Smallville, and he hadn’t attempted to speak to her, either.

He didn’t know what to say, or even how to begin.

Now as he was faced with the reality of going inside the house and talking to his parents, which had always been relatively easy in comparison to dealing with girls, he almost wished he could just sit here in Chloe’s car in stony silence the rest of the day instead.

Almost.

Drawing in a breath, he glanced at her sideways, and he found himself wishing she’d give him some nugget of Chloe wisdom, or advice, or even a little bit of encouragement. When she still didn’t look at him, he swallowed hard. “Thanks for the ride,” he murmured.

Her jaw tightened a little and she gave a short nod of acknowledgement. He’d barely stepped out of the car when she threw it in reverse and sped off down the driveway, kicking up dust and not casting a backwards glance in the rearview.

Damn. He closed his eyes. Then, he opened them slowly and looked up at the house. It was time to own up to his mistakes, no matter how hard it was going to be.

* * *

Jonathan Kent stared out the window at the red VW bug parked in the driveway. He recognized it as Chloe Sullivan’s, but he had no idea why she was at their farm. The only reason she ever visited was to see Clark, and Clark had vanished two months before. The longer the car was idle, the more tense he became. He was about to move to the door to motion her inside when he saw the passenger side door open.

The breath caught in his throat as he saw his son step out of her car. Could it be? Had Chloe somehow located him and convinced him to come back? Shaking his head, for a moment he was sure he was seeing things. But he watched as the red bug turned around quickly and sped off, watched as Clark winced and closed his eyes.

And then he watched as Clark slowly headed toward the kitchen door.

“Martha!” he called, hoarse.

“What is it?” She stepped into the kitchen a second later, looking every bit as pale and worn out as she had for the last two months.

“He’s home,” he whispered.

Martha’s eyes widened and she moved toward the door. The second it was open, she flung her arms around her son, embracing him tightly. “Clark!”

Startled at the unexpected response, tears filled his eyes and he slowly wrapped his arms around her in return.

“Welcome home, Son,” Jonathan said quietly, his own eyes watering as he met Clark’s gaze. “Welcome home.”


	2. Chapter 2

Clark hesitated in the doorway of the Talon. From where he stood, he could see both Pete and Lana at the counter. Lana was working and Pete was doing homework.

He idly wondered where Chloe was. He knew that Pete was taking a summer chemistry class, but as far as he knew, Chloe had the summer off. Maybe she’d gotten another internship at the Daily Planet, he thought.

Realizing he was just prolonging the inevitable, Clark sucked in a breath and stepped into the mildly crowded café.

“Is that Clark Kent?” he heard a girl whisper in the corner. When he looked at her, she ducked her head, pretending like she hadn’t noticed him.

When he looked up he saw that Pete and Lana had both turned to see him, surprise on their features. So much for making a quiet entrance, he thought wryly. Smiling a bit nervously, he made the short trek to the counter, locking eyes with Pete first, then Lana.

Pete slid off the stool, his eyes full of warmth. “Welcome back, CK.”

Clark’s face broke into a grin and he quickly hugged his lifelong friend. “Thanks, Pete.”

Lana’s smile was much more hesitant than Pete’s had been. “Welcome home, stranger.” Her last word took on a slightly heavier meaning than the seemingly innocent word.

He swallowed hard, knowing that patching things up with her wouldn’t be nearly as easy as they’d been with Pete and his parents, though from her greeting he knew it’d be easier than patching things up with Chloe. One step a time, he thought, taking a deep breath.

“Thanks, Lana,” he said softly.

She forced a small smile, then went back to making the cappuccino she’d been fixing when he came in.

“Where you been, man?” Pete shook his head a little.

“Metropolis,” he admitted, not quite meeting his friends eyes.

“What made you decide to come back?” Lana asked, not looking at him as she stirred the drink. Her posture was stiff, tense.

Clark swallowed hard. “Oh, uh…Chloe…found me.”

Pete gave him a questioning look, but remained silent.

Lana smiled, but it was tight-lipped. “I’m sure your parents were really glad to see you. They’ve been worried.”

“We all have been,” Pete said quickly, glancing from his friend to Lana, then back again. “I’ve been telling everybody you just needed some time to think, with your mom’s miscarriage and Lex’s untimely demise.”

Clark flinched a little. “Yeah,” he murmured, dropping his gaze to the floor. “That pretty much sums it up.” He was lucky to have such a good friend to cover for him.

Lana’s eyes softened a little at the admission. “Are you back for good now?” she asked quietly, finally looking at him.

He quickly raised his eyes to her face. “Yeah. I’m not goin’ anywhere.”

A faint smile, this time a real one, touched her lips. “Good.”

He smiled a bit and watched as she headed off to deliver the cappuccino and take orders from the newest customers that had walked in.

Pete let out a breath, looking at him. “Chloe found you?”

“Yeah.” He hesitated. “Is she around?”

“Haven’t seen her for a couple days, actually. She’s been kinda distant.” He shrugged. “I figured it was just more moping over your AWOL butt.” Pete flashed Clark a grin. “So she snapped you out of your funk?”

“In a manner of speaking,” he replied, swallowing hard as his mind flashed back to the intense kisses from the day before. “Listen, Pete, I need to talk to you…and my parents. Alone.”

He lowered his voice. “Official Krypton business?”

Clark nodded a bit. “Yeah. There’s some stuff you guys need to know.”

“That doesn’t sound good.” He looked worried.

He let out a breath. “Let’s just say my parents aren’t going to be very happy.”

* * *

Jonathan Kent sat at the kitchen table, staring down at his mug of coffee as he sat across from Clark and Pete while Martha sat beside him.

“So how much does Chloe know?” Pete asked carefully, breaking the tense silence that had befallen.

“Pretty much everything,” Clark admitted. “She doesn’t know about the green Kryptonite. But the rest of it…” His voice trailed off.

“And she was mad at you when she brought you back?” Jonathan asked.

“I don’t think ‘mad’ really covers it, Dad. She was…furious.”

Jonathan looked worriedly at his wife, who was a bit paler than she had been awhile ago, but didn’t look as worried as he felt.

“I don’t think she’ll say anything,” Martha spoke up quietly.

Everyone looked at her.

She met Clark’s gaze. “Chloe’s always had very deep feelings for you. I don’t think she’d want to see you hurt in anyway, regardless of how angry she might be.”

“Mrs. Kent’s right,” Pete agreed, nodding. “She’s crazy about you.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not so sure.” Clark looked at him, shaking his head. “I didn’t really leave on good terms and then after…”

“Son, what exactly happened yesterday?”

He swallowed hard, shifting uncomfortably. “I don’t really wanna get into it, but…I was out of line and…I definitely made things worse between us.”

Pete’s eyes widened a little, but he quickly ducked his head and stared down at the table as he contemplated what that could mean.

“I think you should go and talk to Chloe,” Martha said quietly.

“Mom, I really don’t think she’s going to wanna see me right now.”

“Probably not. But the longer you wait, the harder this is going to be. On both of you,” she said meaningfully.

Clark swallowed hard and met her eyes. Why did his mother always have to be right about everything?

* * *

Chloe sat curled up in her computer chair, staring unseeing at the blank computer screen. Her next Daily Planet column was due in less than six hours and she hadn’t written a word. Not a single word. Closing her eyes in frustration, she rested her head on her knees.

This had to be the weirdest week of her entire life.

Clark Kent was an alien.

An alien!

Talk about missing the obvious facts in front of your face. She’d always known that there was something different, something special about Clark Kent. Even the first time she met him, she’d known immediately he wasn’t like other guys. She should have suspected something when she’d fallen for him practically on sight, because she was not the type to even believe in love at first sight, let alone experience it herself.

Maybe he had some hypnotic alien-power that made girls fall in love with him. Or maybe it was just her and Lana Lang that it affected.

The knock on her window startled her and she jerked her head up and turned to look. Her eyes narrowed when she saw him standing outside, his eyes pleading.

Her jaw clenching involuntarily, she stood and moved to the window, reluctantly opening it. “Go away, Clark,” she said flatly.

“I would, but…I can’t,” he said softly.

Chloe let out a slow breath, not responding.

“Chloe, we need to talk. Please.”


	3. Chapter 3

For a long moment, Clark was sure she was going to slam the window shut in his face. He gazed at her intently and she didn’t look away. Then she slowly stepped back away from the window, reluctance in her expression. She didn’t want him there.

He swallowed hard, trying to absorb that realization as he climbed in through her bedroom window, careful not to break it.

Chloe folded her arms across her chest, keeping a wary eye on him. “So what brings us to this reversed Dawson and Joey moment?” Her voice was clipped--an attempt to be funny without really meaning it.

“About what happened in Metropolis…” He took a step toward her.

“I know. You weren’t yourself.” She gazed at him with a steely look in her eyes.

He dropped his head and stared at her bedroom floor for a long moment. “You have no idea how much I wanted to tell you.”

“Yeah, I’m sure you were just dying to tell me your secret, Clark,” she said with bitter sarcasm.

“Do you think I like having to keep this from everyone?” He shook his head, looking at her in disbelief.

“No, of course not. But I think on the list of people you’d want to tell, I’m probably pretty far down there.” There was more than just anger in her voice and eyes. Somewhere beyond the lashing out there was also hurt. She waited, hoping against hope that he would deny it, that he would tell her she was the first one he wanted to know the truth. But she was too much of a realist to believe he would ever say that.

“Chloe, you’re my friend,” he whispered.

“Am I?” Tears stung her eyes and she turned away so he couldn’t see. The last thing she wanted was for him to see her cry. “Because correct me if I’m wrong, Clark, but this is far from the only thing you haven’t been honest with me about.”

Lana.

Clark closed his eyes, swallowing hard. “I never meant to hurt you, Chloe.”

She felt her throat tighten at the regret in his voice, and she closed her eyes. “No. You never do.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I don’t want your apologies, Clark.” I want you to love me. A tear slipped down her cheek. “It’s not enough this time.”

The breath caught in his throat. “What are you saying?”

Feeling ill, she wrapped her arms around herself, still turned away from him. “I want you to go.”

Clark closed his eyes. “Chloe…”

“Just go. Please. And don’t come back.” Her words were so quiet that if he hadn’t had super-hearing, he never would have heard them.

His chest ached and he rubbed it without thinking about it. “So that’s it? We’re not friends anymore?”

She gave a short, humorless laugh. “I’m not sure we ever were.”

Stunned by her words, Clark slowly moved toward the window. “Chloe, you can’t tell anyone,” he said softly, pleading.

What was left of her heart crumbled at that soft plea. “I never would.” She bit down hard on her lip in an attempt to keep the sobs she felt coming on at bay.

Another tear slipped down her cheek. And when she turned to face him once more, he was already gone.

_He showed me what it was to cry_


End file.
